ReadBooksBy.Faith

All about author Faith Phillips

Faith’s Blog

Hell Canyon, Part 1 of 3

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My mama disappeared that summer. Funny thing about memory, sometimes I don’t know the difference between my own true recollection and things I’ve been told. Maybe that’s due partly to hearing bits and pieces of this story over and over again, my whole life, from the time that photo was taken to this day. And now look at me. Sitting here telling the same story all over again.

See, that trip was our last family vacation. Cindy (she’s the pretty one with the hat) had only been off to college for two months before she came back and announced her engagement. The wedding was set for October. Grandpa Frank said we would take one last family vacation together before Cindy’s no-account city boy married into the family.

Grandpa mapped out the drive and explained that the planning part was just as much fun as the doing part. He took out a big atlas of the United States and pointed out the route from Okemah to Hell Canyon. We’d stop in at the RV park in Hell Canyon and camp for the night, then wake up before daylight next day and drive on to the coast. Grandpa made the whirring sound of a car engine as he dragged his finger along Route 66 from Okemah all the way out to California. Cindy rolled her eyes and looked away. But Shell’s eyes were filled with light and excitement. She laughed every time Grandpa’s finger stopped and took off again on the map.

Cindy always said Shell was Grandpa’s favorite, despite the fact that she was the only natural born trouble maker of the whole bunch. Grandma had a hard time making Shell behave. In fact, sometime shortly after Shell’s thirteenth birthday, Grandma just threw up her hands and said she was through trying. She had washed Shell’s mouth out with soap, thrashed her with cedar branches, grounded her for life, threatened her with boarding school and finally resorted to begging. But Shell never would give in. She’d take her lumps and keep right on with whatever scheme she’d cooked up in the first place.

Grandma would cry and say Shell was hell bent. But Grandpa didn’t believe that at all. He said she was just thirsty for life and tended to gulp it down quicker than most could tolerate.

When I was born, Shell was just sixteen. Grandma told everybody that I would be enough to quench Shell’s thirst for a real long time. Shell named me Frances, but no one ever called me that. On the day I was born Grandma said I was her little June bug and from then on I was called Junie.

It was my second birthday when we all loaded into the camper truck and set out on the road for our last trip together. Shell picked out the traveling music. A steady beat shuffled us along the road while Hank Williams howled, “Then I hurried straight home and packed…And if I didn’t go, I believe I’d blow my stack.”

…to be continued…

 

(Originally published by Quentin Bomgardner, Kelly M. Roberts and The Red Dirt Chronicles)

Early Fall Book Tour Dates and RAVE Reviews!!

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Now I Lay Me Down

We are pleased to announce the first dates of the Autumn Book Tour to kick off the release of Oklahoma true crime novel Now I Lay Me Down. Also, please enjoy an article from the Cherokee Phoenix by Will Chavez and the first few RAVE reviews rolling in from readers all over the country! Want your own signed copy now? Order at http://ReadBooksBy.Faith and the book will ship direct to you within 24 hours.

BOOK TOUR DATES

  • AUGUST 23 – The book tour kicks off in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on Thursday, August 23rd with a book signing at Jacob Studios from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
  • AUGUST 31 thru SEPTEMBER 2nd – The author will be signing books in a booth at the Cherokee National Holiday at the Cherokee Heritage Center, August 31st – Sep 2nd, with a special Cherokee authors book signing event, including Brad Wagnon, in the CHC atrium on Saturday, September 1 from 10a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • SEPTEMBER 7 – Interview on KUSH radio, alongside Judge Maxey Parker Reilly, 9 a.m. www.1600kush.com/
  • SEPTEMBER 7 – THE OFFICIAL BOOK RELEASE EVENT in Okemah, Oklahoma, featuring a discussion with author Faith Phillips, former Assistant District Attorney Maxey Parker Reilly and a special musical performance by Wink Burcham. The Hen House, Okemah, OK from 6 to 8 p.m.
  • SEPTEMBER 27 – Stilwell Book Club meeting, open to the public, Stilwell Public Library at 2 p.m.
  • Stay tuned for many more dates in the coming months, including Tulsa, OKC, Dallas and Fayetteville!
  • Want to schedule a book tour stop in your town or at your own book club? The author will come to you with books! Contact fthphillips@gmail.com for more information. Dates are filling up now!

 

PRESS RELEASE

A behind the scenes look at how the riveting story came about, check out this story by reporter Will Chavez in the Cherokee Phoenix:

https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/index/62472

RAVE REVIEWS

Here are a few of the earliest reviews coming in from generous readers like you. Don’t take my word for it!

“I could not put this book down…the best read of something you should never have to read but makes you feel glad you did.” BJ L.

“I got my copy yesterday and finished it last night! It was such a page turner. Faith is such an excellent writer. I smiled, I gasped, I was so wrapped up in it! I highly recommend it!!” ~Morgan H.

“Read Now I Lay Me Down in one day. Couldn’t put it down. I don’t read much because we stay so busy, but I think you got me started again.” ~Molly A.

“It’s hard to be so excited about such a truly terrible story, but Faith has used her words in the most respectful and informative manner, with descriptions that are as chilling as the crime itself. It’s a page turner of the most tragic topic.” ~Lara B.

“I ripped into the envelope, and behold! There was a magnificent block of carefully designed and cut paper with fabulous words all over the paper. On the inside was writing of the most transformational kind, written in the hand of a goddess.” ~Linda P.

“I just finished this book and I just got it yesterday…you don’t know me from Adam but I thought you did an amazing job.” ~ Dana B.

“Duvall is reading the new Phillips crime expose’ as I paint lazy circles in the sky at the little art gallery that could. We read the first 40 pages and were just slayed.” ~Murv J.

“So far I’ve said Awe, I’ve had chills, and shed a few tears. Wow!” ~Julie S.

“Got mine today. Read to page 50 and forced myself to stop … if not I will be up all night finishing it!” ~Cherri B.

“I loved it. Excellent work and a story that can ONLY be about Central Oklahoma, only as told by an Okie…” ~Joe B.

“Order your copy today! I read it cover to cover in one sitting … I couldn’t put it down! Now I Lay Me Down is a true crime novel about the tragic murders of three young girls from my rural community in Oklahoma. The book chronicles the girls’ deaths, the intense investigation that ensued and which spanned a period of almost six years and the eventual prosecution…” ~Marlene L.

Many thanks for the good words and generous support from so many readers. The response is overwhelming. I am most grateful for your generosity. For those of you who haven’t read the book yet, I invite you to find out what all the fuss is about. I hope the next review comes from you.

Shine on,

Faith Phillips

 

 

 

 

 

Your Exclusive First Look At the True Crime Novel ‘Now I Lay Me Down’

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Original book cover design by Oklahoma artist Kalyn Fay Barnoski.

This is your exclusive first look at the true crime novel Now I Lay Me Down, the third book from author Faith Phillips. Sign up with your email at http://readbooksby.faith/ to be notified when the book becomes available for purchase. You can be the first to order your copy of this riveting summertime page turner!

 

 

Chapter 1

The Prosecutor

 

The prosecutor stood in the road. She surveyed the scene and said not a word. A denim blouse hung loose on her slender frame. She stared at the ditch, one hand shoved deep in her back pocket. She remembered.

This particular stretch of County Line Road had once been an obscure place in an obscure county, familiar only to the few locals who made their homes on the back road. Obscurity is just another way of saying concealed, and the town of Weleetka meets that definition. Interstate 40 runs just a few miles north as the crow flies, ferrying interlopers past long-forgotten Oklahoma towns. It is very much concealed and out of view, hidden by stands of trees in rural Okfuskee County. An outsider would never expect to come across a town in this pastoral location. Out of sight, out of mind.

The quiet lane that runs through Okfuskee County’s back country is populated by trees, underbrush and an occasional family home. The lawns often hold collections of defunct automobiles and plastic toys left out to fade in the weather. Maxey Parker Reilly hadn’t been sure she could find her way back again without some sort of navigation. It had been such a long time since she last visited. She careened her S.U.V. along the blacktop and slowed at each turnoff, eyeing the road signs. But when she came to County Line Road the physical reaction was instant. Total recall took hold and she cut a sharp right. She didn’t need to look for signs now. She remembered.

The topography along the road was flat and tree-lined, strewn with thick underbrush. Stationary oil wells provided a gaudy juxtaposition to the otherwise quiet countryside. After a couple of miles hints of color appeared in the ditch like a mirage. Glints of sunlight reflected from multiple points of glass and metal. At first glance it appeared as though flowers had managed to spring up and out of the drab undergrowth. But then a fraction of light angled down from a tree limb, and a plastic whirligig spun in the wind. Then came the teddy bears at the heart of the place, long worn by exposure. Wind chimes played a hollow tune and a light bulb hung from a tree.

The dusty white crosses finally identified the place as a roadside memorial. They are a familiar sight along Oklahoma’s highways; a family’s way of marking the mournful spot where a loved one drew their final breath in a violent clash of glass and steel. But this roadside memorial was atypical. Small details indicated something very different from a car crash. An American Girl doll with long dark hair and platform heels lay smiling in the dirt. It was the first hint that something might have happened to a little girl here. In the midst of all the odd memorial objects an angel arose. She stood, once gleaming white, now covered in layers of dust thrown up by passing vehicles.

The statue as it stood that day was four feet in height; an elegant effigy with shoulders proud and tall; folds in the long ceramic robe revealed a bent knee. The delicate wingtips of the angel nearly touched the ground. At her bare feet a ceramic puppy and a smiling bear sat on guard next to a basketful of plastic lilies and sparkling beads. The angel cradled a great bouquet of field daisies across her chest. The statue’s presence represented a statement to onlookers. Someone had cherished the person who was lost in this place. The angel was carefully chosen to memorialize a child. It was meant to solemnize and express community grief. They placed her at the center of all the other tokens of loss left behind.

But then someone came along, pointed a shotgun at the angel’s head and blasted it clean away. It was not the first time the memorial had been violated. Maxey was filled with emotion and anger at the sight of it.  Snapshots flashed in her mind from a hot summer evening ten years previous. That night she had been called away from her newborn child to this place on County Line Road.  It was one of her very first jobs as the new Okfuskee County Assistant District Attorney. Fresh out of law school, she had imagined that her first case might be a drug prosecution or perhaps domestic violence. But the pretty young woman was afforded no chance to ease herself into the prosecutor’s role. She had been thrown in the deep end by the brutal execution of two little girls on County Line Road, just a few miles outside of Weleetka, and she had no other choice but to swim.

Tina Turner And My Diamond Cut Memory

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Photo Credit Bob Greun

 

Fancy meeting you here. I expected the inspiration for May’s blog to come naturally, considering so many exciting events on the near horizon. My third book, Now I Lay Me Down, is set to be released this summer and I turn forty in a little over an hour from this moment. But somehow this entry proved the most challenging of the year.  I hoped I’d be able to share a long list of lessons learned, but in truth I don’t feel much more confident than I did at age 12.

I have a diamond cut memory. Maybe things would be easier if I didn’t remember the details so well. All these years have been a series of plans and equally as many broken plans. I can say with 100% certainty that I never planned to be “here” when I “grew up”. As a child I told everyone I would someday be an archaeologist or a marine biologist. They didn’t doubt me. I felt sure that I would grow up, make a lot of money and take care of my family. The whole time I was reading like a madwoman and writing with fervor.

I started off so well on that success track. Grades, scholarships, law school admission … that had nothing to do with the goals of my childhood, but still I felt like I was moving toward my idea of success. After I achieved everything I wanted professionally I still felt like something was left undone. I kept writing.

One day I found myself working for an abusive, morally bankrupt man and I had to ask myself what amount of money it would take to spend my life at his service. The answer came to me like a lightning strike: NO AMOUNT

That was the moment I went off the rails and shed the dreams of my youth. I went after a new dream I never even believed  possible. Book writers seemed like Mick Jagger to me. Who knew I could be one of them? My loyal friends sensed my passion and encouraged a seemingly impossible new path. As I move into my fifth decade on this planet I realize that loyalty like this in relationships is precious, rare and more valuable than jewels. I wouldn’t trade the Loyals in my life for all the paper in the Treasury.

Today I watched Serena playing strong in her catsuit and it made me feel proud. I have zero knowledge about tennis, but it felt good to witness that power. There on display was a woman in her own culmination of determination, hard work, preparedness and confidence. That’s the same essence I’m after in my work as I move forward. The thing that strikes me more than anything else at this moment is my existence as a woman. My insecurities, my strengths, my vanity, my pride, my humiliations. Forty makes no difference at all, it’s just another day in the life of a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes. But that is what I am. Today I heard Tina Turner sing You Better Be Good To Me on the radio and I said to myself, “Damn Straight.”

I’m with friends right now but I am working. I’m right here working toward what I never even dreamed as a girl I could do. I’m writing books. My failed plans became my wildest dreams. So I’m going to go ahead and take the rest of my mist and work it out like Tina Turner … hard and fast, strong through the pain, passionate and pure. I have a diamond cut memory and I’m forty. You better be good to me.

Now I Lay Me Down: The Third Book by Faith Phillips

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Here we are, nearly finished with April, and I wonder how the full moon’s treating you? Here in Okieland, the moon always makes for prodigious creative output, just like clockwork.

Speaking of creative output, my third book will be released this summer.  Here’s the blurb:

“From the author of Ezekiel’s Wheels and It’s Not That Hard To comes the true crime novel Now I Lay Me Down. Ten years ago, two little girls went for a walk down a dirt road and never made it back home. Their brutal murders sent a sleepy Oklahoma community into a spiral of grief and sparked the largest investigative pursuit in OSBI history. Pressure mounted when the investigative team ruled out an exhaustive list of suspects and the remains of another young woman were discovered in a smoldering fire. The untested Assistant District Attorney, not long out of law school, found herself heading up a “War Room” assembled by officials to catch the killer. This is the true life story of three murdered girls and the Oklahoma woman who pursued their killer.”

I’ve been working on this book for just over a year now. It was wild work, serving as proof that the truth really is stranger than fiction. Since I began writing books a great number of people have approached me to ask if I would write their story – and while I believe every life is book worthy, I always decline because I have enough material swirling in my own head to last a lifetime.

But one fine September evening a couple of years ago I sat around a campfire by the river with several women. One of them told me she had a true story that she thought I ought to write down. I rolled my eyes in the dark thinking, “here we go again”. But then the things she told me made my hair stand on end. I knew that very night that I would have to write the book.

The research and interviews took me to murder sites, courthouses, isolated back roads and sleepy little towns. The paperwork included thousands of court documents, news articles, web sites and yes, some correspondence with a convicted killer.

While the catalyst for the book is very sad, there is also redemption. That redemption is found in a young, struggling Okie girl who grew up to seek justice for other girls much like herself, who never got that chance.

Look for release dates, book signing dates and all new announcements right here on ReadBooksBy.Faith

Shine ON, as always.

Faith

Rosie’s New Boot

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 Even Roseanne Barr was shocked when the Neilsen ratings rolled in after the debut reboot of her self-titled ABC sitcom. The Tuesday night hour-long premiere blew ratings through the roof by all accounts, surpassing numbers for smash hit series like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. “Roseanne”’s numbers even eclipsed the much anticipated 60 Minutes interview with Stormy Daniels. The comedian tweeted her gratitude to fans and also acknowledged her writers on the show – whom she identified as “all Liberals”.

Barr’s lightning rod Twitter account actively courts controversy, beginning with her run for President in 2012, when she actually appeared on the ballot for the Peace and Freedom Party and placed sixth overall in the general election. Since that time the comedian tweeted out a number of objectively offensive tweets, many of which she deleted in recent history. But in the last few months Barr’s tweets began to adopt a more promotional tone in anticipation of the new television show.

Frenzied reactions erupted from social media and pop culture sites alike with the announcement of “Roseanne” the reboot . Political polar opposites spewed furious rants over the return of the self-styled ‘Domestic Goddess’. More than a few pundits called for boycotts of the program. The right bemoaned socially progressive themes discussed in the show, including gender fluidity, feminism, and body autonomy. The left howled because the main character, Roseanne Conner, admits in the first episode that she supports President Trump – a decision that mirrors the real-life political leanings of Roseanne Barr. A twitter handle by the name of #BoycottRoseanne called for the show’s cancellation based on Barr’s “racism, homophobia, antisemitism and hate speech”. Meanwhile, the right wing group known as One Million Moms also called for a boycott based on the inclusion of a character that promotes the “transgender agenda” that they claim amounts to “child exploitation at its worst”. One convulsive radio host declared a new episode in the “culture war”. Finally, a show that brings both sides of the political spectrum together in collective contempt!

Now prepare yourself for our special Okie twist to the Roseanne news: Tulsa ranked as the #1 market nationally for the Roseanne premiere according to Neilsen Media and the Hollywood Reporter. That’s right, we landed on top of a national ranking again! Here’s the thing … rather than crawling into the nearest shame-cave, perhaps we can just straight up admit that many Oklahomans identify with the dire themes “Roseanne” tosses into its levity blender. Can it be that humor in sitcom form serves as a chaser of sorts, in order to make the hard liquor, ahem, I meant issues, somewhat more palatable?

Let us consider the state’s most dismal national rankings in the areas of healthcare (#49), suicide (#13), opioid abuse (#1), divorce (#1), and the fact that the recent national economic upturn has not been reflected in the home state’s economy, not even close, with a national poverty ranking of  #10.

Who among us will approach the Easter dinner table without a relative packing some sort of heat on his or her person? Doesn’t everyone anticipate a non-p.c., or vulgar joke told by a snickering cousin, just outside Grandma’s earshot? How about the fact that most families count at least one Trump voter among their ranks? Most Oklahomans experience that bowel-gripping fear in their gut, regardless of political affiliation, the moment a political bomb drops in the family setting. Perhaps that is why the return of “Roseanne” was received so well in Oklahoma – maybe it felt like coming home, even if it is a loving, dysfunctional, accursed home.

When questioned about her politics on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Roseanne said, “a  lot of your audience and including me, I just want to say this, Jimmy, a lot of us, you know, no matter who we voted for, we don’t want to see our president fail. Because we don’t want Pence.”

According to the social media echo chambers, Roseanne’s new show doesn’t deserve a place on air. But its undeniable popularity in Oklahoma demonstrates that our fractured families and divided society remain in dire need of repair. We can only hope that laughter might begin to facilitate that discussion. In that way, no place proved more hilarious than our own little T-Town last Tuesday  night.